And then chop the relic in half with a lightsaber.
Technically speaking, the Holocron wasn't a relic. It was just a USB drive stashed away by Cordova. He just happened to be an archeology nerd that hid it behind relics.
I can understand how people can feel deflated by this ending, but I actually love it and think it's one of the few story beats that get what the Jedi philosophy is shown to represent. I'm at work or I'd go into a big long diatribe, just be warned that I still might, later...
Somehow, in the year of 2025, I have ended up playing World of Warcraft again.
But not retail, no no... classic WoW on the fresh new anniversary servers, on HARDCORE where one death means the character is gone forever.
I feel like I'm becoming some kind of junkie that NEEDS THE THRILL OF DEATH to feel alive.
But not retail, no no... classic WoW on the fresh new anniversary servers, on HARDCORE where one death means the character is gone forever.
I feel like I'm becoming some kind of junkie that NEEDS THE THRILL OF DEATH to feel alive.
figmentPez
Staff member
A Plague Tale: Innocence
I'm glad I'm stepping out of my comfort zone to play this one. Stealth gameplay may not be my thing, but this game is gorgeous, and the story is really gripping.
I'm glad I'm stepping out of my comfort zone to play this one. Stealth gameplay may not be my thing, but this game is gorgeous, and the story is really gripping.
Project Zomboid on Wasteland RP server
Been diving deep into Zombie RPGs lately. HumanitZ scratched the itch for a while but it wasn't very deep. Had grown tired of the tedium of PZ a couple years back but then with a fresh new perspective and an interest in some of the community mods, I tried it out again. And then Version 42 hit which was a substantial QOL improvement.
And then I discovered a pretty sane RP multiplayer server (wastelandrp.net) and the tedium and lack of easy life became a significant benefit. I could rocket through the single player stuff on 42, but WastelandRP runs a heavily modified 41 and it really worked for me for some reason. Partly because it's a very heavily administrated server with a lot of rules, a lot of oversight, and a lot of infrastructure that keeps it tight. But also because they've added a ridiculous amount of depth to it. I mean, to make bread, you have to have every bloody utensil as well as water, yeast, salt, baking soda, flour, etc. It's simultaneously infuriating but also very 'realistic' if that's the right word. When you accomplish something it really feels like a significant accomplishment. They're deep into a season already so you also feel very much like a scavenger picking up the scraps of what was left behind - but if you can survive, every day gets that much easier. As an example, I'm getting the little dopamine rush of accomplishment because I have a decent water system for getting water - involving keeping a fire burning and finding enough pails and barrels of water to capture the rain of the season - which in some games is just a point and click but here feels very "intelligence required".
It's also very empty. I had to put together the parts to get a HAM radio working so I could hear the other players on the server. But only today did I find two in person. They ended up robbing me of some of the cash used for the RP, but it was probably one of the more intensive and character driven actions that I've seen in a multiplayer game since text based MUDs or the very early days of WoW. It's not easy, it's not always fun, but when it hits, it hits the right spots.
Been diving deep into Zombie RPGs lately. HumanitZ scratched the itch for a while but it wasn't very deep. Had grown tired of the tedium of PZ a couple years back but then with a fresh new perspective and an interest in some of the community mods, I tried it out again. And then Version 42 hit which was a substantial QOL improvement.
And then I discovered a pretty sane RP multiplayer server (wastelandrp.net) and the tedium and lack of easy life became a significant benefit. I could rocket through the single player stuff on 42, but WastelandRP runs a heavily modified 41 and it really worked for me for some reason. Partly because it's a very heavily administrated server with a lot of rules, a lot of oversight, and a lot of infrastructure that keeps it tight. But also because they've added a ridiculous amount of depth to it. I mean, to make bread, you have to have every bloody utensil as well as water, yeast, salt, baking soda, flour, etc. It's simultaneously infuriating but also very 'realistic' if that's the right word. When you accomplish something it really feels like a significant accomplishment. They're deep into a season already so you also feel very much like a scavenger picking up the scraps of what was left behind - but if you can survive, every day gets that much easier. As an example, I'm getting the little dopamine rush of accomplishment because I have a decent water system for getting water - involving keeping a fire burning and finding enough pails and barrels of water to capture the rain of the season - which in some games is just a point and click but here feels very "intelligence required".
It's also very empty. I had to put together the parts to get a HAM radio working so I could hear the other players on the server. But only today did I find two in person. They ended up robbing me of some of the cash used for the RP, but it was probably one of the more intensive and character driven actions that I've seen in a multiplayer game since text based MUDs or the very early days of WoW. It's not easy, it's not always fun, but when it hits, it hits the right spots.
figmentPez
Staff member
I really enjoyed A Plague Tale: Innocence, even if the quality of gameplay really drops off at the end. The final areas are way too heavy on combat, but these days I'm more surprised by games that don't fall apart at the end.
The visuals, voice acting, story, and characters manage to shine for the whole length of the game, so I can forgive a few missteps in gameplay. I'm looking forward to the sequel (which I conveniently already own, since I won it a while back in a bundle).
figmentPez
Staff member
Finally finished Anarcute
I wanted to like this one more than I did. Not that it's a terrible game, it's just that I don't think it plays to it's strengths. I had fun, I just wish it had been more fun. Because it really should have felt more rewarding to win.
For a game that has floaty controls and chaotic action, it punishes you way too much when things go wrong. The gameplay revolves around controlling a crowd of adorable little animals as they riot through the streets beating up cops and overthrowing the fascist police states of their world. The bigger your crowd, the more abilities you get, but it's very easy to lose crowd size, and you can only gain crowd size by finding pre-set groups of rioters to activate (some of which are in positions that require a certain crowd size to reach). So the gameplay is most fun when actively smashing stuff, but that's not the most effective way to play. Cautious hit-and-run tactics work better, but that's hard to pull off because of the floaty controls. There's rarely any recovery mechanics.
You can pick up objects to throw, but the only targetting is automatic, and the game may or may not decide to choose the target you want, and even then you might just throw weakly. There was no consistency in the game for the power of thrown objects, and the only way to target airborne enemies is with throwables. So you could throw a dozen objects at a helicopter and have most of them miss or do a tiny amount of damage, or you could throw just a couple and have the helicopter blow up. Doesn't matter if the object is a bicycle, a whole picnic table, a beach ball or a concrete post.
Overall, a cute idea that isn't very refined.
I wanted to like this one more than I did. Not that it's a terrible game, it's just that I don't think it plays to it's strengths. I had fun, I just wish it had been more fun. Because it really should have felt more rewarding to win.
For a game that has floaty controls and chaotic action, it punishes you way too much when things go wrong. The gameplay revolves around controlling a crowd of adorable little animals as they riot through the streets beating up cops and overthrowing the fascist police states of their world. The bigger your crowd, the more abilities you get, but it's very easy to lose crowd size, and you can only gain crowd size by finding pre-set groups of rioters to activate (some of which are in positions that require a certain crowd size to reach). So the gameplay is most fun when actively smashing stuff, but that's not the most effective way to play. Cautious hit-and-run tactics work better, but that's hard to pull off because of the floaty controls. There's rarely any recovery mechanics.
You can pick up objects to throw, but the only targetting is automatic, and the game may or may not decide to choose the target you want, and even then you might just throw weakly. There was no consistency in the game for the power of thrown objects, and the only way to target airborne enemies is with throwables. So you could throw a dozen objects at a helicopter and have most of them miss or do a tiny amount of damage, or you could throw just a couple and have the helicopter blow up. Doesn't matter if the object is a bicycle, a whole picnic table, a beach ball or a concrete post.
Overall, a cute idea that isn't very refined.
Subnautica: Below Zero
The expansion/sequel to Subnautica. I actually bought it a while back and only got around to playing it now.
On the whole, I like it quite a lot. It's generally considered not quite as good as the original Subnautica, and I think this is a fair assessment, but it's still a worthy follow-up to Subnautica that offers a lot of the same experience while also expanding on the gameplay in some ways.
First, the good. The performance of the game appears to be better than Subnautica, with noticeably less pop-in, but this may partially be attributed to the map being smaller and more compact this time around. There's no longer an issue of pop-in at long draw distances because the game doesn't need to draw far-away things as much. The arctic environments are fun and interesting to explore. There are some fun innovations to the gameplay, such as the addition of new tools (the resource-finding tool is a godsend) and a new vehicle (the Seatruck, which is nicely customizable for each player's preferences). The protagonist now being voiced was also an interesting change, with greater opportunities for character development and growth. Plus Kimberly Brooks does a phenomenal job as usual with the voice work.
On the less-good side, the storyline didn't really do it for me, with it feeling like two separate stories crudely mashed together. And you can even end the game without resolving one of the two storylines, which feels really incongruous considering that storyline is the one that brought the protagonist to this planet in the first place. The gameplay design is also a bit odd in some places. The original Subnautica gated off resources with depth; you start out being able to go down to 200m, which will give you the resources you need to upgrade your gear so you can now go down to 300m. And at 300m there are more resources you can collect, which will then allow up to upgrade your gear further to go down to 500m, etc. Below Zero does something similar, except sometimes in a half-assed way. For example, you still collect resources to be able to expand your reachable range of environments, but sometimes a resource you need is located in an environment you would've needed that resource to reach in the first place. For instance, one of the key resources you need to craft a suit to resist cold above-ground environments... is found in a cold above-ground environment.
Additionally, one of the best things that Subnautica did was to build atmosphere using sound. Each biome had its own background noises, which meant that if the usual background noises are interrupted by a predator's roar, that becomes a clear "oh shit" signal for the player. In Below Zero, however, virtually every biome has roaring noises. Maybe this is due to the smaller map, so predators in neighboring biomes can make sounds that the player will hear, but ultimately the result is that the effect of the roars is diluted. When every biome is filled with roaring, no biome is scary.
But anyway, these gripes aside, I still had lots of fun with the game, and I'll probably be replaying it endlessly much like I do with Subnautica.
The expansion/sequel to Subnautica. I actually bought it a while back and only got around to playing it now.
On the whole, I like it quite a lot. It's generally considered not quite as good as the original Subnautica, and I think this is a fair assessment, but it's still a worthy follow-up to Subnautica that offers a lot of the same experience while also expanding on the gameplay in some ways.
First, the good. The performance of the game appears to be better than Subnautica, with noticeably less pop-in, but this may partially be attributed to the map being smaller and more compact this time around. There's no longer an issue of pop-in at long draw distances because the game doesn't need to draw far-away things as much. The arctic environments are fun and interesting to explore. There are some fun innovations to the gameplay, such as the addition of new tools (the resource-finding tool is a godsend) and a new vehicle (the Seatruck, which is nicely customizable for each player's preferences). The protagonist now being voiced was also an interesting change, with greater opportunities for character development and growth. Plus Kimberly Brooks does a phenomenal job as usual with the voice work.
On the less-good side, the storyline didn't really do it for me, with it feeling like two separate stories crudely mashed together. And you can even end the game without resolving one of the two storylines, which feels really incongruous considering that storyline is the one that brought the protagonist to this planet in the first place. The gameplay design is also a bit odd in some places. The original Subnautica gated off resources with depth; you start out being able to go down to 200m, which will give you the resources you need to upgrade your gear so you can now go down to 300m. And at 300m there are more resources you can collect, which will then allow up to upgrade your gear further to go down to 500m, etc. Below Zero does something similar, except sometimes in a half-assed way. For example, you still collect resources to be able to expand your reachable range of environments, but sometimes a resource you need is located in an environment you would've needed that resource to reach in the first place. For instance, one of the key resources you need to craft a suit to resist cold above-ground environments... is found in a cold above-ground environment.
Additionally, one of the best things that Subnautica did was to build atmosphere using sound. Each biome had its own background noises, which meant that if the usual background noises are interrupted by a predator's roar, that becomes a clear "oh shit" signal for the player. In Below Zero, however, virtually every biome has roaring noises. Maybe this is due to the smaller map, so predators in neighboring biomes can make sounds that the player will hear, but ultimately the result is that the effect of the roars is diluted. When every biome is filled with roaring, no biome is scary.
But anyway, these gripes aside, I still had lots of fun with the game, and I'll probably be replaying it endlessly much like I do with Subnautica.
Stellaris
Bought the base game about two years ago and never really played it. I’m trying to get into it now, but it is kicking my ass.
I’ve never been very good at rts games anyway, but this seemed approachable. It’s a longer game, so things are stretched out, etc.
The learning curve though. First game, trying to understand everything that’s going on and I think I’m doing okay, I’m outclassing all my neighbors and then the Unbidden Crisis happens IN my space, a few jumps from my capitol system. I fight back with what I have, but get curb stomped. I’m trying to figure out how to get help from the rest of the galaxy because they are doing nothing, even the few systems that are in a Federation with me. Eventually one of my neighbors sees what’s happening and decides to come over and declare war on me. So, I’ve lost all of my fleets to the Unbidden and now losing all of my systems that would allow me to build fleets back up to my neighbor. I can’t even sue for peace for some reason.
So I just quit and started a new game. This one, both of my immediate neighbors and literally the only ways out of my area, hate me and have closed borders with me. I’m desperately trying to get enough power and resources, but at least this time when one of them attacked me, I cut a swath through their systems to their homeworld and made them surrender.
I’m sure I’m making tons of mistakes and could be running roughshod over them, but I just don’t know what I’m doing yet.
Bought the base game about two years ago and never really played it. I’m trying to get into it now, but it is kicking my ass.
I’ve never been very good at rts games anyway, but this seemed approachable. It’s a longer game, so things are stretched out, etc.
The learning curve though. First game, trying to understand everything that’s going on and I think I’m doing okay, I’m outclassing all my neighbors and then the Unbidden Crisis happens IN my space, a few jumps from my capitol system. I fight back with what I have, but get curb stomped. I’m trying to figure out how to get help from the rest of the galaxy because they are doing nothing, even the few systems that are in a Federation with me. Eventually one of my neighbors sees what’s happening and decides to come over and declare war on me. So, I’ve lost all of my fleets to the Unbidden and now losing all of my systems that would allow me to build fleets back up to my neighbor. I can’t even sue for peace for some reason.
So I just quit and started a new game. This one, both of my immediate neighbors and literally the only ways out of my area, hate me and have closed borders with me. I’m desperately trying to get enough power and resources, but at least this time when one of them attacked me, I cut a swath through their systems to their homeworld and made them surrender.
I’m sure I’m making tons of mistakes and could be running roughshod over them, but I just don’t know what I’m doing yet.
What type of empire are you playing?
First one was the default recommended one, Democratic Egalitarian Human. Second one, I'm trying for a slightly different approach. I forget right now exactly what it is, still Human, but more militaristic so I can try to build up for the end game. Like I said, still figuring everything out. I got a handle on the resource issue and it's getting close to when the last crisis happened, so I'm just kinda waiting with bated breath for something to go down.
I personally like to simplify things a bit by playing a hive mind type of empire, like a gestalt machine empire. This removes the need to worry about stuff like food, different tiers of citizens, population happiness and factions, etc. If you go for a genocidal empire, like determined exterminators, you can even get big bonuses to your combat effectiveness, at the cost of everyone hating you and being virtually incapable of any diplomacy.
My usual playstyle these days is to go for a non-genocidal gestalt machine empire, which allows me to go for diplomacy or aggression, depending on my mood and the neighboring empires i get.
But of course, if you're enjoying playing a democratic human empire and want to continue, that's absolutely fine too. There's no wrong way to play Stellaris, especially if you're not on one of the higher difficulty levels.
Dave
Staff member
@GasBandit
POE2! Come play with us! (I'll be on tonight. Send me a message on Discord and I'll get you into our guild so you can get help with good items for builds.)
POE2! Come play with us! (I'll be on tonight. Send me a message on Discord and I'll get you into our guild so you can get help with good items for builds.)
GasBandit
Staff member
Oooh, neat. Thanks! I don't know if I'll be able to tonight, but I'll see what I can do.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard (PC)
While I own, I think, 2 other DA games, this is the first one I've actually ever completed. The story was interesting, I enjoyed all the side quests and factions. I actually liked going back to the various zones and poking around. The companion characters were pretty well developed and I liked spending time with them. I'm still annoyed at the mandatory companion character death at the end. Combat felt good and pretty smooth, though took some getting used to the flow and seeming input delays. But ya, it was fun. Didn't exactly break any new ground as far as video game storytelling or mechanics, but a perfectly serviceable and enjoyable game. I liked it.
While I own, I think, 2 other DA games, this is the first one I've actually ever completed. The story was interesting, I enjoyed all the side quests and factions. I actually liked going back to the various zones and poking around. The companion characters were pretty well developed and I liked spending time with them. I'm still annoyed at the mandatory companion character death at the end. Combat felt good and pretty smooth, though took some getting used to the flow and seeming input delays. But ya, it was fun. Didn't exactly break any new ground as far as video game storytelling or mechanics, but a perfectly serviceable and enjoyable game. I liked it.
So I won my second game via time. I was so paranoid about the end game crisis that I didn’t want to waste my units in any wars and have to build back up while fending off fleets. But no crisis came. So I did the equivalent of saving all my health packs for the boss.
I then went and read a bit of a “How to not suck at Stellaris so much” guide and it suggested that beginners should start playing on a map that had 1 or 2 other races only. So I thought I’d do that. Also went with a slightly modified Tzynn Empire this time. Still had slavery, but weren’t complete Xenophobic assholes… just mostly.
I had so much space and took over so much. Also got The Cybrex precursors and that is a cool story (the wrecked ringworld is in progress). I dumped so much research into my military that when the Praetorian Scourge eventually showed up, I single-handedly stomped them to dust. I had three fleets, one at 124k, one at 90k, and one at 89k camping their spawn point when they arrived. They barely survived long enough for me to pause the game and check out their ship designs.
I am learning a lot this game. Like making claims before going to war, different levels of Vassal agreements, and the fact that when an empire closes their borders to you that you don’t automatically close yours to them as well. I was used to that from Civ.
Anyway, I got some megastructures to make still and a scary robot armada with Titans in an isolated system, Ultima Vigilis, to go see about as well. Having a lot of fun with it.
I haven't played Stellaris since...
uh, a while
You're making me want to give it another look 
uh, a while
You're making me want to give it another look